VOA标准英语2008年-Nigeria Parliament Begins Oil Industry Probe

（单词翻译）

Nigeria's House of Representatives is beginning an investigation¹ into the country's oil industry. Gilbert da Costa in Abuja reports for VOA that top industry officials are scheduled to testify before a special parliamentary panel at a public hearing.

Nigeria's oil industry will come under scrutiny² this week in Abuja as the House of Representatives holds public hearings on alleged³ under-handed dealings in the sector⁴.

The anti-corruption⁶ unit, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, says an estimated $500 billion were stolen between 1960 and 2007 in Nigeria, the world's eighth largest oil exporter.

Political interference, embezzlement⁷ and administrative⁸ lapses⁹ have turned the state-owned petroleum¹⁰ company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, into a huge cash-cow for the country's rulers.

Soji Apampa, of the anti-corruption group Integrity, says putting the spotlight¹¹ on Nigeria's most strategic industry is a huge step forward.

"The probe of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria is a very welcome one because it is one of those industries that are still encased in lot of dark practices," said Apampa. "Insufficient¹² light had been shed on it thus far, and as we have seen the probes that had taken place so far in the National Assembly, we know that their value is in bringing some level of transparency to the happenings in a particular sector."

A parliamentary committee of inquiry¹³ earlier this year reported widespread irregularities in the award of oil concessions¹⁴ handed out during the era of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

Nine out of 10 Nigerians live on less than $2 a day, their lives blighted¹⁵ by poor infrastructure¹⁶ and a lack of public services resulting from decades of endemic corruption.

Nigeria regularly ranks among the most corrupt⁵ in the world, and analysts¹⁷ say this constitute a deterrent¹⁸ to foreign investment and impediment to growth.

A parliamentary committee reported Tuesday that about half the revenues collected by government agencies were not paid to Nigeria's treasury¹⁹.

"About 3.6 trillion [about $3 billion] has actually been generated as internally generated revenue. Of this amount, about 1.5 trillion has never found its way into government coffers," said John Eno, who heads the House of Representatives Committee on Finance.

President Umaru Yar'Adua, who promised to tackle graft²⁰ when elected in 2007, has been criticized for making slow progress on the issue.